DESIGNS BARREL SHIP FOR USE AT SEA (Feb, 1934)

DESIGNS BARREL SHIP FOR USE AT SEA
To demonstrate the feasibility of his design for a high-speed ship that rolls over the water like a barrel, a marine engineer of Port Blakely, Wash., has constructed an electric-powered model that is reported to perform all the maneuvers of a conventional vessel. He proposes building full sized ocean vessels on a similar plan, with stationary decks for passengers and cargo inside the revolving, electrically driven shell. The project recalls that of another barrel ship inventor of an earlier day, who actually completed a 110-foot model of his steam-powered craft and piloted it 200 miles across Lake Ontario (P.S.M., Dec, ’33, p. 26).

Why do people revive this design over and over again? The practical problems are just enormous and I doubt that the supposed advantages in speed and power exist.

I guess there are a lot of inventors out there who have never read PopSci/Mech/ModMech to know that their idea has failed multiple times; which is a good thing for these magazines as they would otherwise have nothing to write on.

Sean O'Brien says: October 17, 20087:32 am

Still, I’d like to see the article that they reference.

Gregly says: October 17, 20086:27 pm

What is up with these old magazines always omitting the subject of the sentence? They have headlines like “Builds Model Dirigible” or “Constructs Diesel Engine Out Of Balsa Wood”. Was this just common practice in the media back then?

I guess it could really help out, though… your headline is guaranteed to be correct if it reads “Wins The Presidential Election”.

Myles says: October 20, 20083:41 pm

Speaking of bad ideas, where is the article for the dorky looking airplane on the cover that could never land in a crosswind?